One More Stop
by KristinDreemur
Summary: A human AU Alfred drag Arthur to a small town in America to keep Arthur from getting lonely. Which ultimately ends up landing Arthur three jobs and some other things he didn't really ask for
1. Introduction

Arthur hated planes. Almost as much as he hated alcohol. But for their moment he had decided he hated planes. After all what could be worse than being dragged away from your home to another country. Maybe he was being a tad dramatic. He wasn't entirely unwilling to go. Alfred was his brother after all. Sometimes he just wished he knew what he was getting into with these things. He looked out the window and sighed. As if an answer to his problems would be floating about in the clouds but alas the sky was clear and so, unfortunately, was his head. He was tempted to check his phone but decided against it. God forbid he cause the plane to crash in the middle of the ocean. He glanced over at the person sitting next to him. The normally bubbly and much too enthusiastic about anything blonde he knew as Alfred was fast asleep. He had some sort of neck pillow wrapped around himself and had his head at the most peculiar angle. Arthur rolled his eyes and went back to a staring out the window. He already missed his college's community. Alfred refused to believe but Arthur actually left behind friends to help him. Maybe America wouldn't be so bad. After all Alfred has said that they were living in a fairly small town. Though judging by his brother's definition of small he wouldn't have been surprised if it was a city somewhere in New York. He took a deep breath as they began their descent. He could at least make the best of it.

"You only have one suitcase?" Alfred raised an eyebrow at Arthur to which Arthur sighed -yet again-

"I only need one. I don't have many things." Alfred had already moved on though

"Dude your gonna love Winters. They've got an antique shop and everything" Arthur rolled his eyes and crossed his arms

"So are we walking or do you have a car?" He looked around for some kind of beat up jeep wrangler and found he was being dragged in a different direction.

"Dude, what are you looking for?" Alfred dug his keys out of his pocket and walked over to a bright red camaro. It had a wide stripe of white on the sides and five white star decals on the front with a 'The Hero's Car' custom made bumper sticker on the back. Arthur's eye twitched.

"I'd drive your car but it's a little... British" he rolled his eyes

"You said as you unlock a car Uncle Sam would call too patriotic.'" Alfred just laughed and shoved him in back

"Get comfortable we have to take a lot of bumpy road!" Arthur was hardly able to close the door before Alfred hit the gas and they went flying into traffic.

It felt like forever before Alfred finally hit the breaks.

"here we are!" Alfred declared and jumped out of the vehicle. Arthur peeled himself off his seat and stepped carefully out of his brother's car. It wasn't too big a town but he was more than fairly surprised when he saw Alfred's house.

"Why do you need such a big house." Alfred ran a hand through his hair

"Well the real estate agent kinda tricked me. I live her with two other… Guys…" Arthur looked over at him

"You live in the same house but don't even know them?" Alfred laughed awkwardly

"Well Toris is definitely a dude. Its his friend I'm not so sure about. I think their polish?" Arthur honestly couldn't decide how he felt about that. America snapped

"Feliks! That's it." Arthur took a deep breath. Maybe it wasn't too late to run and find something he could afford on his own. He took a small step back only to be dragged into the house by the collar of his jacket.

"Toris! Feliks!" We're back!" Alfred called and an unassuming brunette peered out of the kitchen.

"Feliks isn't here right now. I was making coffee if you guys would be interested." Arthur shook his head but America nodded and gave Toris a thumbs up.

"You know how I take it." And with that pushed Arthur into the garage.

"Just a warning. Don't touch the car on the far left. Feliks and Toris share that one so they'll freak out of anything is out of place." Alfred pulled him back inside and up the stairs to a room all the way down the hall. He pushed Arthur inside and smiled

"This is your room. Get situated and then we've gotta get goin." her slammed the door and Arthur dropped his bag on the floor. It was finally quiet. He looked around. It was a fairly nice room. Perfect for its new inhabitant anyways. There was a bed and a bedside lamp for late night reading. There was a hardwood desk situated in front if the window for natural light and a bookshelf in the far corner of the room. He walk over and ran his hand along the spines of the few books he'd left with Alfred when he'd been kicked out of the old house. They were classics. He wouldn't have read anything less. Moby Dick and Great expectations. Poetry and Fiction sorted out in the exact same order they had been before. He smiled a bit. Maybe this wouldn't be so terrible. After all his little brother couldn't have changed that much.

"A Coffee shop called Tea Time?" Arthur raised an eyebrow and Alfred laughed

"Awesome right?" He dragged Arthur out of the car and inside. A happy blonde fellow waved them over to a glass counter.

"Hello . Who's this?" Alfred smiled at him

"Hey Tino. This is my big bro. He just moved in with me and he's looking for a job." Tino smiled

"Can he make coffee?" Alfred laughed much to Arthur's annoyance.

"Oh you're being serious…" Alfred shook his head

"Arthur's not allowed in kitchens anymore." Tino thought for a moment.

"I guess we are short a cashier. Would you be interested in that Mr..?" Arthur checked his watch

"Kirkland and if that's all you have." He smiled

"That's great you can start tomorrow," Arthur was confused for a moment.

"Don't you want me to fill out an application or give you my résumé perhaps?" Tino shook his head

"That's fine. You need a job real quick right?" Arthur nodded,

"Well, now you can get settled at home and not have to worry about finding a job afterwards." Arthur glanced back down at his watch

"I suppose. Thank you." Tino nodded

"No problem. See you tomorrow." he waved and Alfred pulled Arthur out of the shop.

"That went well. You wanna go get a drink?" Arthur shook his head.

"I've got a lot to do. But thank you." Okay so maybe Arthur didn't hate alcohol per se, he just knew it wouldn't be good for his reputation if he drank too much. And with him too much… didn't take much. He walked with his brother back down the street and Alfred started talking about the various residents in the town. From the sound of it there was someone from every country here. Tino was Finnish and his partner was a Swedish man named Berwald. Alfred's roommates, and Arthur's too he supposed, Toris and Feliks were together and had been since about two years ago. Then there was America's friends. There was a danish fellow named Matthias, a Canadian named Matthew, and an albino who swore to high heaven that he was Prussian. And that was just the ones Alfred could remember.


	2. Chapter 1

One thing Arthur had never woken up to before was a bucket of ice water, but of course he was at Alfred's house now so when he woke up and yelled at Alfred it bounced of the American like a rubber ball. Arthur dried himself off and got dressed muttering to himself all the way downstairs. Feliks was sitting on the counter in the kitchen while Toris made breakfast. Needless to say this made Arthur a little nervous about breakfast itself. Arthur had found out yesterday that Feliks was a guy who simply dressed like a girl since dresses were 'Like totes adorable' . Arthur could understand how Toris was in a relationship with him, personality wise anyways. They complemented each other fairly well. Toris was soft spoken and kind while Feliks was loud and often came off as extremely aloof.

"Woah do you wear like anything but those boring work shirts?" Feliks asked. Arthur could tell he was barely containing a grimace. He looked down at his button up in confusion

"I don't see the problem with it." He replied and Feliks flipped his hair

"It's like a little plain don't cha think?" Arthur ignored the comment and pulled on his jacket. He pinned a message to his door and walked downtown. He entered the coffee shop from yesterday. He looked around, but Tino was nowhere to be seen. In his place a tall, intimidating, pale haired man. He waved Arthur over and held out an apron and name tag muttering a couple things in a foreign language. Arthur pulled the apron on and the man disappeared into the kitchen. He clipped on the name tag and stepped behind the counter. Not many too long after that a quiet blonde with violet eyes walked in and over to the counter.

"H-hello." He greeted Arthur quietly as if he was scared to bring his voice to a higher octave. He wore a simple pair of glasses, a red and white maple leaf T-shirt and jeans. It reminded Arthur of something Alfred might wear. He smiled

"Can I get you something?" The blonde nodded and ordered a small coffee while he waited for his older brother. Arthur slipped the order to the kitchen and the customer went to sit down. The next person to walk in was… Interesting… If you felt like being nice about it. He had longish pale blonde hair and the kind of walk only people with an attitude have. He walked up to the counter and smiled "Well you're new." he looked up at the menu and Arthur tried to identify his accent.

"Hmm I can't seem to choose." He looked back at Arthur and winked

"Maybe you could help me?" Arthur resisted the urge to shudder. French. The man was dressed fairly nice. A dark blue button up under a black blazer with a white rose decorating the breast pocket. He had paired this with jeans, some kind of leather boot, and finished the ensemble of with a pair of expensive looking sunglasses that now rested atop his head. There was something about him that really ticked Arthur off. Most likely the fact he had just flirted with Arthur.

"Have you seen my younger brother around here?" Arthur took a deep breath and pointed at the boy from earlier

"Would that be him?" The irritating Frenchman smiled "Ah Merci." He walked over and sat across from the boy. Arthur couldn't help but feel bad for him. A bell rung and he walked over with Matthew's coffee. He turned to leave and jumped. Did someone just pinch his..?

"Your tip." the Frenchman winked again and Arthur walked back to the counter in a silent rage. Not fifteen minutes into his new job and he was pretty sure he was being harassed by a gay French face! His younger brother covered his face with his hands. Now Arthur felt really bad for the kid. The bell to the door chimed and Arthur looked over. Three people walked over. Two brunettes and one blonde. The first brunette seemed to be happier than one should ever be with life while the second seemed as if he chose to wear a permanent scowl. The blonde just seemed to not care about anything. Before Arthur could even ask the scowling one had rattled off a whole list of things under the name name Vargas. He dragged the happy brunette to a table and sat across from him. Arthur looked at the blonde and smiled a bit

"What can I get you sir" he glanced at the menu for all of two second before listing a couple thing and going to sit next to the happier brunette. Much to 's dismay. Arthur handed the orders to the person at the window and sighed. He'd never dealt with such difficult people. Before he could duck behind the counter and pretend he was just lost three people nearly busted the door as they strode inside. An albino and two blondes nearly strutted over to him.

"Hello." The albino smiled and Arthur waved.

"You are Arthur Kirkland?" Arthur nodded and through back to his conversation with Alfred yesterday.

"You must be Gilbert." He shrugged

"I prefer Ze Awesome Gilbert, but your new so I'll cut you a little slack" Arthur rolled his eyes. Half an hour into his shift and his patience was already wearing thin. One after another the loud German, Danish, and of course Arthur's own brother ordered and sat picked up 's and Ludwig's order and walked them over making sure to steer clear of the table with the French man from earlier. He returned to the counter and sighed. He should have just stayed in Britain. Things were so much simpler at his university. He waited a bit longer and ran to deliver the last group's order and went back to the kitchen to retrieve the glass cleaner and a rag for the display case. He set to work cleaning up the glass and wiping it dry before, carefully, setting the display desserts inside. Despite his inaptitude for cooking Arthur could always present someone else's desserts and or main course very well. He walked back to his former station and leaned on his elbows on the counter. If only this accursed day would end! Eventually his daily shift did end and he was able to leave the shop. He walked back to the house slammed the door once inside. "Hey bro how was the first day?" Alfred asked from his position on the couch. Arthur caught the urge to punch him. Because Alfred had dragged Arthur to America, he had just experienced the worst day of his life. He'd been yelled at, glared at and some random French guy had pinched his ass! Instead he ignored his brother and walked upstairs to his room. He opened up his laptop and created a new search for cheap places in the area. He eventually found a place and set up a time to meet with the owner of the small house. It was a simple place. 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom and a small kitchen slash dining room. The owner was just looking to get it off his hands and from the looks Arthur could afford it in a little less than a week. If he was going to stay in the same town as his brother, he was making damn sure he was living in a different house… He sighed. No he wasn't. He canceled the appointment and closed the computer. Even if he felt like it Arthur knew he wouldn't be able to leave Alfred again. Call him a stage five clinger but he knew he would only end crying drunk on Alfred's doorstep only now it would be awkward for Feliks and Toris as well. He went a laid back down on his bed, he wasn't really feeling up to dinner with all of them. It would be better tomorrow, right?

Turns out it would not be better tomorrow. Less people, but it was still a pain. It started out alright but then it all went downhill. It was at this point where Arthur decided things were not going to get better. At this point there was no reason to try and smile at anyone. Everyday was a repeat of the last. Francis would find a reason to flirt with Arthur, Matthew would apologize before they left. Lovino, Feliciano, Ludwig and Gilbert couldn't help but cause a scene and Gilbert was even worse whenever Matthias and Alfred came with him. Arthur had managed to find two other jobs. He wanted to stay out of the house as much as possible. It wasn't that he didn't like his new roommates, but Feliks didn't like him, Toris wouldn't let him cook in the kitchen anymore and Alfred was outright annoying sometimes. So his day started at about four in the morning. He began work around 4:15 at Tea Time. Tino insisted on Arthur having something to eat and drink so he bought and ate breakfast before work each morning. After that he worked till about noon when he got off his shift and went over to the car wash. There was more manual labor involved with that so he'd work as hard as he could -exercise does one good after all- for about four hours. His final part of the day was a trip over to the local grocers where he was, once again, a cashier. If Toris needed something for the kitchen he'd call with the house phone and Arthur would grab it before he left. After he got home he'd study for a bit email a paper to his college and eat something before going to bed. For a while the schedule seemed to be working. Arthur rarely had to deal with Alfred's antics, Feliks rarely had to look at Arthur and Toris and Arthur got along just fine. Everyone was happy. Well except Alfred sometimes but only because Arthur hadn't gone with him to a bar in three three weeks and that mood was easily changed when a football game came on or he was allowed to go out to the local McDonalds. Arthur had effectively started a system that everyone could be happy with. For now at least. As he knew too well something always created a problem.


	3. Chapter 2

It had been about three weeks of the same routine. Arthur hadn't seen his brother very much and if he was being honest he kinda missed being able to talk to him. But today was Arthur's first day off from everything. No French pervert, no angry drivers and no checkout lines. Even if it was only for a day it made Arthur smile for the first time in a while. He got dressed and walked downstairs to find the usual scene. Alfred was asleep on the couch, Toris was in the kitchen and Feliks was nowhere to be seen. He grabbed a piece of fruit from the table and stuck his wallet in his pocket. Making sure to close the door quietly he left the house and walked down the street. It was a pretty nice day. Warm and the breeze wasn't too chilly so he didn't feel like he had to go back for his jacket. He walked past a couple fairly familiar stores. Just the few he frequented. A clothing store where he'd found some more casual clothing, the grocery store where he worked, and the antique shop Alfred had pointed out when Arthur had first moved here. He must have met everyone in town by this point. He'd even spoken with Matthew's sister Lucille. She liked Francis a bit too much for his taste but other than that she was a well rounded young lady. Arthur sighed and walked inside Tea Time. Berwald was standing behind the counter again most likely waiting for Lukas or Emil to take their shift. He sighed and sat down at a table in the corner. What was he even doing here? It wasn't like he had any work to do, so why bothering even coming near the building? He figured it was at least a quiet place to read and pulled out his phone. He waited for a couple minutes for the news to load before someone decided to sit across from him

"Is that you mon cher?" Arthur didn't bother looking up. He didn't have to.

"Buzz off. I don't have the patience for you today Francis." There was a over dramatic gasp

"You wound me Arthur…" there was a silence before Francis, clearly very annoyed, snapped at him

"At least look at me!" Arthur smirked

"No thank you I just ate." Francis stomped his foot

"Your very stubborn you know?" Arthur finally looked up

"Why thank you." He stood up

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm sure your siblings are looking for their older brother." He stood up and walked out of the cafe with a sigh. Maybe there wasn't a quiet place to read in this town. Not even the library was quiet most times. There was a park somewhere but Arthur hadn't managed to find it yet. He put his phone back in his pocket and decided that was what he was going to do today.

A small town should not have been that hard to navigate. Yet there he was passing the thrift store for what was most likely the fifth time. He leaned against the window and sighed. There was a knock on the window and looked over. The owner of the store, a penny pincher named Roderich, held up a sign. Keep off the glass. Arthur sighed and walked to the next store. So far this 'day off' had been a complete waste of time. He walked into the store and looked around. A sporting goods store? Fishing rods and other assorted things required to go camping lined the wall save for half of one wall. Arthur gulped and turned to leave. He didn't really have good experiences with firearms.

"Can I help you?" Arthur looked behind him and saw a worker he guessed. He had blonde hair and some shade of green colored eyes. Arthur shook his head

"Do you work here?" He didn't really want to assume anything. He shook his head

"Only with the guns and ammo." Arthur laughed nervously

"That's brilliant… the display I mean, well not to say you aren't brilliant, I'm sure you are I just meant-" the worker sighed and scowled at him

"If you're not interested in anything leave." he pointed at the door and Arthur nodded. Happy to do what he was told he dashed out the door and down the street finally doing a faceplant on a path somewhere. He looked up and muttered

"Stupid street…" he stood up and brushed himself off before looking around. The path split a little ways down. The sign pointed out directions to a public flower garden or to a small playground. Favoring roses over noisy children Arthur started down the first path. He was only slightly discouraged after finding a old rusted gate at the end of the path. He pushed it opened but winced at the volume of the shriek it let out. He walked forward only to be disappointed by the state of the garden. The flowers were wilting and the fountain in the center of things hardly working at all. He looked around for some sort of gardening shed to no avail. Arthur tapped his foot with impatience. If a town was going to boast a flower garden they should at least make sure it doesn't fall into disrepair. And with that he set out.

He came back about an hour later pushing a dolly of supplies in front of himself. He had taken it upon himself to try and salvage the former glory of the garden. So he set to work. Package upon package of fertilizer was opened and Arthur appreciating the invention of t-shirts more and more with every passing moment. He spent hours working harder than he'd ever bothered working on a garden before. Something about just leaving it the way it was just… it irked him. There was no point in having something if you weren't willing to take care of it. What would be the point?

Lili Zwingli didn't normally stop into coffee shops or any kind of cafe. It wasn't her thing, but she was supposed to be trying new things. So there she was sitting at a table in a 'cozy' coffee shop waiting for a sarcastic Icelandic teenager to deliver her drink. The bell above the door chimed and she looked over. A ruffled looking blond with green eyes and a rumpled t shirt with the British flag emblazoned on it. Someone cried out

"Mon dieu! Arthur, Mon cher, were you attacked?!" he shook his head

"I just came in for a glass of water, I'm bloody tired so leave me alone alright?" He got a glass of water from the teenager behind the counter and sat down at a table across from Lili. She looked over at him and smiled a bit. Off to the side of his head there was a chunk of his hair standing straight up, he looked over at her in confusion. He used the glass as a makeshift mirror and jumped up in surprise. Lili resisted the strong urge to laugh as he sat down and attempted to fix it. He eventually sighed and slumped back in his chair. She smiled to herself and waved. He waved back finally smiling for himself. He walked up to the counter whispered something to the teenager again and went to sit across from her

"Sorry for bothering you but would you happen to know where I could find the library is? I've got a paper to write and none of my textbooks seem to cover the material.

"That's a little strange. Is it a research paper?" Lili took a sip off her drink and he nodded

"Yes, I'm supposed to be writing a paper on another country but since England and America are pretty much out of the running here I've been looking for other places for information." Lili thought a moment.

"It's just across the street from the chinese restaurant." He ran a hand through his hair and smiled

"Thank you, I don't really get out much so I'm fairly clueless when it comes to the layout of the town unfortunately." He stood up to leave

"It was a pleasure to meet you miss..?" Lili smiled and replied

"Lili Zwingli." He bowed a bit and replied

"Arthur Kirkland. Good day Miss Zwingli." he waved and left the building. The teenager dropped off something in clear wrap

"From the person that just left… I hate my life." and walked back to the counter with some kind of bird on his shoulder. Lili smiled again. Maybe she'd come back here sometimes. Vash might like it too.

Arthur walked down the street with a bright smile on his face. What a nice girl. He hoped she didn't think he was weird showing up the way he did. He'd never seen her there before. It was nice having something to smile about. He looked around. The chinese restaurant was supposed to be right next to the trading post. He walked across the street and walked inside the library. A rather empty place he had to admit but definitely kept to its purpose. He walked up to the counter where a black haired man sat reading something peculiar. "Excuse me." Arthur said quietly, the man jumped in surprise and his chair tipped backwards… with him in it!

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked. He stood up and nodded

"Yes… I' fine. May I help you with something?" Arthur looked around "Where do you keep your history books? World history?" He walked from behind the counter and Arthur followed him to the history books "Do you need library card?" he asked. Arthur nodded

"That would most likely help." the other person ran back to the desk and Arthur smiled to himself. This was all going to be great.


	4. Chapter 3

Arthur found out the next morning that Alfred had bought a spray bottle.

"Stop it, I'm awake!" Arthur threw his pillow at his younger brother who only continued to spray him.

"Get up already man! You're gonna be late!" Arthur bolted upright and raced out of his bed. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! He couldn't be late, it would throw his whole schedule off. He got dressed and ran downstairs. He flew between Feliks and Toris effectively cutting of their usual mid-morning argument about something or other. He shot out the door, jumping over the steps and landing, on his feet, with a thud on the sidewalk and immediately took off down the street. Maybe flip flops hadn't been such a good idea not that he'd had much of a choice otherwise. He barely made it to Tea Time before Tino flipped the open size.

"Are you alright Arthur?" he asked and Arthur nodded while trying to catch his breath

"I'm... not late... am I?" Tino shook his head and went back to the kitchen area.

"You didn't have to rush, we don't have many customers Sunday morning. I probably would have given you Sundays off If you wanted to go to church or something." Arthur almost winced

"I've never really been into religious things." he lied. To tell the truth, he would have loved to go to a church, but the churches in places he'd lived had never liked him. He'd been kicked out of four churches before he applied for college. At that point he'd just given up.

"So where are Berwald and Peter?" Arthur had learned just recently that Berwald was Tino's partner and roommate. It seemed a lot of people in Winters housed together. Berwald and Tino lived with about four other people. Three of which Arthur had met. Matthias, Lukas, and Emil were a trio of brothers that came to the house not too long after Tino and his adopted son Peter had. All of them, but Peter worked at the coffee shop, a big family business is how Tino chose to put it.

"They went to church. The catholic one with Emil. Lukas and Matt go to the other one because, well... you know." Arthur nodded. He did know what it was like to have different beliefs than a sibling. He hoped it didn't keep Emil from Lukas and Matt... He looked outside. Tino was right, of course they didn't have many customers on Sunday's at least not until after his shift ended. They were all at church or at brunch with their extended family. Despite this fact, he threw on his work apron and name tag and stood behind the counter. Boring as it was he was being paid to do this. Needless to say he didn't see anyone that morning.

Lili only really went to church because Vash did. It was like that with a lot of things. Vash was Lili's wonderful big brother. Well... kind of. She wasn't his biological sister, but she'd been so young when he'd 'adopted' her and they looked so strikingly similar that everyone just assumed they were related and eventually they had just stopped correcting them. They had a routine for Sundays. First they'd go to church, then to the store for the week's groceries. After that they'd split and do their own things until about six when Lili would head home and start dinner. Lili sighed and looked around. There wasn't much to do in Winters. If she was being honest, she'd much rather live in a city. Or at least a town with something going on. Everything worth doing was on one street and that wasn't saying much... but she made the best of it. She walked quietly next to Vash, who was grumbling about prices and quality while waiting in line to check out. She tightened her hair ribbon a bit and smiled. She could make it work. As long as her big brother was happy she could be too.

"Is that all?" she heard a faintly familiar accent ask. She looked over and her smile widened.

" I didn't know you worked here." He looked over in surprise and smiled

"Well hello Miss Zwingli. I only work here part time, fortunately." He checked Vash out with a smile and turned back to her

"You look very nice today." Lili looked down at her red dress. It wasn't anything too special. Just one of the things she wore to church

"That's so sweet. Thank you." She smiled.

"Did you go to church too?" Arthur laughed

"Not in these clothes." She giggled a bit. It was a fairly odd outfit especially for the weather. Vash shook his head

"Choose better footwear. Did you not watch the weather this morning?" Arthur ran a hand through his hair

"My alarm clock broke. I was in a hurry so unfortunately no..." He rang up the last of the items and smiled back at Lili

"I just noticed you're wearing the same ribbon as last time I saw you. It suits you Lili." Lili's face adopted the same tint as her dress and you could almost hear Vash glare at Arthur. Lili's older brother was more than a bit intimidating. If looks could kill Arthur would have been dead several times over. He looked back at the monitor.

"Um... sorry... miss." Vash picked up his things and gestured for Lili to follow. She followed Vash to the entrance of the store and gave Arthur a small wave on their way out.

He hadn't missed the flush on her face. It was kinda cute how such a small compliment had made her face rival the shade of a valentine's heart. He sighed and started printing receipts for . Ordered them by time and snapped a rubber band around them. He walked back to his office and dropped the receipts on 's desk

"I'll be going for the day." He nodded and waved Arthur off not looking up from his computer. Arthur took off his name tag and tossed it to the side. He almost ran out the door and he DEFINITELY ran back to the house. He slammed the door and Toris tripped out of a room

"Come on, you have to eat something" he knocked on the door that had just been slammed in his face.

"Is everything alright" Arthur asked and Toris turned to him

"Just fine ummm... What are you doing home so early?" Arthur looked down at his clothes and then back at Toris, eyebrow raised. He laughed nervously and nodded

"I was going to ask about that." Arthur looked at Toris more closely. His hair was messy and he kept glancing at the door.

"I can only assume you were fighting with Feliks." Toris nodded and flattened out his usual green apron

"Yeah..." he ran a hand through his hair

"The hair pulling was new. Arthur nodded, not sure he wanted to know more.

"Well I'm just going to go change." Toris nodded

"Right sorry for keeping you." Arthur walked upstairs and got changed. he splashed some cold water on his face and dried off. There were some things that would never change, he supposed. He made a mental note to ask Alfred about what it had been like before he arrived. He walked back downstairs and flattened his shirt. He needed to ask Toris where the clothing iron was at some point. he walked outside and came face to face, or rather, face to knuckle, with Lili Zwingli. Arthur laughed in surprise

"That's a first." She flushed

"I-I'm so sorry ." she apologized. he waved it off

"It's quite alright Lili, did you need something?" She held out a book

"Y-you said you were doing research right?" Arthur took the book and looked at it

"An encyclopedia... this volume was missing from the library when I checked earlier..." She nodded

"I know said you were looking for it so I said I could take it to you." Arthur smiled

"You're very sweet coming all the way here to deliver this to me." She flushed even further

"W-well I wanted t-to apologize t-too..." Arthur looked back at her

"Apologize? Whatever for?" se looked at her feet

"My brother means well, he just comes off... different." Arthur nodded. He understood. if you asked Alfred Arthur was the definition of an overprotective older brother.

"I understand where he's coming from. I used to be the same way about my little brother." Lili looked back up

"Oh really? What changed?" He hesitated

"We had a bit of a... falling out, but it's fine now. We let go of that a while ago." He laughed nervously. Lili nodded

"Well sorry for knocking on your forehead." Arthur smiled

"Have to make sure something's in there somehow." She laughed a bit "Goodbye ." she walked down the steps and Arthur waved "I'll see you around Miss Zwingli." he stepped inside and smiled to himself. Maybe he could show her the garden... when it was finished of course. She might like that. He sighed and walked back upstairs. He set the book on his desk and sat down. He put his glasses back on and prepared to take notes pushing whatever he was trying to stop thinking about to the side... just for a bit.


End file.
